Self-portrait Of Women Under The Gaze Of The "Other" ——Research On Self-Portrait Of Western Female Artists Before The 19th Century

Self-portrait,as the best medium to get close to the artist’s true heart,more clearly reflects the artist’s self-cognition at the moment.Through self-portrait,we can have a dialogue with the artist and understand the deep consciousness of his heart.Under the gaze of the male Other in the patriarchal society,"how to present the self in the self-portrait" is a question that female artists before the 19th century needed to carefully consider.By sorting out the living background of female artists and analyzing the way women present themselves in self-portraits under the gaze of others,we can deeply understand the influence of others on the construction of women’s self-consciousness.The thesis is divided into three parts.Chapter One explores the reasons why female artists become the objects of gaze from a historical perspective.First,starting with the theory of gender essence,it reveals the process by which the male other transforms women into objects of gaze through gender discipline and spatial discipline,and then introduces the social context of female artists from the Renaissance to the 19th century.Chapter Two analyzes the self-portrait works of female artists such as Anguissola,Fontana,Vigee-Le Brun,Artemisia Gentileschi,etc.,and explores the embodiment of the "other and me" appearance and "self" metaphor in their works.Chapter Three explores the influence of the "other" on the formation of women’s self-consciousness and provides reference for contemporary women’s artistic creation in the light of the transformation of self-expression in the self-portraits of modern and contemporary female artists.This paper hopes to make some contributions to the theoretical study of women’s art.